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Unit 23 operates as a critical practice
to establish and evolve the agendas,
methods, attitudes and directions
its graduates will take beyond
the institution. We approach the subject
and discipline of architectural
production as a broad and curious
field that oscillates between meaning
and means, representation and realisation,
experience and expertise. We
investigate and experiment within the
operations, protocols, roles, deceptions
and tales of making experimental
architecture. Students are expected
to take possession of their work
as critical research in developing
their knowledge, skill and ideas.

The building is the final movement in the score of this experiential journey concerning itself with sound and the body.By giving concepts physical form, the experience can be explored. Most of the building has been digitally manufactured in- house with the Bartlett CNC machinery. It is a tour-able, demountable structure. By exploring concepts of resonance, reflection, absorption, forced and natural, the work creates a ‘sonic geography’ framed within a physical construct that invites you to explore, listen, improvise and experience.

The project concerns itself with sound and the body. Sound is an integral part of the way we understand the space surrounding us. Size, quality, timbre, texture and the atmosphere of a space can all be inferred by the way in which we experience sound. Based on ideas from the Suffolk island of Orford Ness the project developed a pre-occupation with the acoustic qualities of circular spaces and with ambient sonic landscapes.

The aim is to generate a physical construct that, whilst taking into account physics, music and architecture, sets out to explore how space can be understood through sound. If architecture is the manipulation of space, then the built form is a way of capturing the ambient.. At the core of this question is the way space is experienced as a function of the sounds found both within and around the space, and the sounds that result from occupancy of the space.

The interaction of the body within the materialistic world together with the phenomenological experience of a space is examined. The notion of silence’s relationship with the ambient - a strong theme in John Cage’s repertoire - is prevalent throughout the work as the building acts as a focus and filter of the ‘outer world of chaos’. By exploring concepts of resonance, reflection, absorption, forced and natural, the work will create a ‘sonic geography’ framed within a physical construct.By using the concept of a transmitting space and one that receives, the latest form to be built developed into a metallic conoid space being suspended within an opposite conoid space built from wood. The project has an analogy to the human ear and uses similar terminology to describe the spaces. There is an outer listening space that uses reflections and the absorbent nature of wood to create a certain timbre of sound. The user is guided to walk and interact through the outer ring and into the central inner drum. This metallic inner drum, focuses the ambient sounds from the site towards the user.The building is the final movement in the score of this experiential journey and by giving concepts physical form, the experience can be explored. Most of the building has been digitally manufactured in house with the Bartlett CNC machinery. It is a tour-able, demountable structure, designed to be erected by a maximum of 4 people. Explore, listen, improvise and experience.